AAP bags 2; TMC, BJP bag 1 seat in WB, Gujarat
New Delhi: The byelection results of the five Assembly seats in four states were declared on Monday. In a major blow to the LDF government in Kerala, the Congress-led UDF won the Nilambur Assembly seat by a margin of over 11,000 votes. In Gujarat, the AAP won the Visavadar seat while the BJP secured the Kadi seat. The AAP also retained Punjab’s Ludhiana West seat while the ruling Trinamul Congress retained the Kaliganj seat in West Bengal. The bypolls in the five constituencies were held on June 19.
In Kerala, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government received a major setback as the Opposition Congress-led UDF wrested the Nilambur Assembly seat. The Congress’ Aryadan Shoukath, son of the late Congress stalwart Aryadan Muhammed, defeated CPI(M) state secretariat member M. Swaraj in the fiercely-fought byelection.
Thanking the people of Nilambur, senior Congress leader and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra posted on X: “We worked as a team, each one with commitment and single-pointed focus, that is the most important lesson of this success. Heartiest congratulations to Aryadan Shoukath, whose dedication and service has shone through, and to all the leaders and workers of the UDF whose efforts made this victory possible. Most of all, a big thank you to my sisters and brothers of Nilambur for your support. Your trust and belief in the values of our Constitution, and in the UDF’s vision for progress will be the guiding light for our way forward.”
It is the fourth byelection defeat for the Marxist party-led Left Democratic Front during the ongoing tenure of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government. The LDF earlier lost in Puthuppally, Palakkad and Thrikkakara Assembly segments. The ruling CPI(M) declared that it has accepted the people's verdict.
Significantly, it is the first time that the LDF has lost a seat held by it to its political rivals. The Nilambur seat fell vacant after LDF-backed Independent and two-time MLA P.V. Anvar resigned, setting off a heated political contest in the forest-fringe constituency.
In Gujarat, the former AAP state unit chief, Gopal Italia, won the Visavadar Assembly seat. He defeated his nearest rival, BJP candidate Kirit Patel, by a margin of 17,554 votes, according to data shared by the Election Commission.
The BJP has not won the Visavadar seat since 2007. The seat fell vacant in December 2023 after the then AAP legislator Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and joined the ruling BJP.
The BJP’s Rajendra Chavda bagged the reserved Kadi seat of Mehsana district by a margin of 39,452 votes over the Congress’ Ramesh Chavda. The Kadi seat fell vacant in February following the death of BJP MLA Karsan Solanki.
Gujarat Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil resigned from his post, taking moral responsibility for the defeat of the party's candidates in Kadi and Visavadar Assembly constituencies.
Punjab’s ruling AAP retained the Ludhiana West Assembly seat with its candidate Sanjeev Arora defeating his nearest rival and Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu by a margin of 10,637 votes. The byelection was necessitated following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.
Thanking the voters for the wins, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal called the bypolls a “semi-final to 2027” and a clear sign that voters would reject both the BJP and the Congress. Gujarat and Punjab will face Assembly elections in 2027.
"Both the parties, Congress and BJP, contested the elections together in both places. Both of them had the same objective -- to defeat the AAP. But people rejected both these parties in both the places," Mr Kejriwal posted on X.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann said the result is a clear indication that the people of the state are “extremely happy” with the government's work.
"We are working day and night with complete honesty and without any discrimination for the progress and prosperity of Punjab,” he said.
In West Bengal, TMC’s Alifa Ahmed won from the Kaliganj Assembly seat by a landslide margin of more than 50,049 votes over her nearest BJP rival Ashish Ghosh, bettering the 2021 winning margin of her father Nasiruddin Ahmed, whose demise in February this year necessitated the byelection. In a post on X, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said: “People of all religions, castes, races and walks of life in the area have blessed us immensely by exercising their right to vote in the byelections to the Kaliganj Assembly constituency. I humbly express my gratitude to them … The main architects of this victory are 'Maa, Mati, and Manush'. My colleagues from Kaliganj have worked tirelessly for this.”
Meanwhile, a 10-year-old girl was killed in a bomb explosion in Kaliganj, which the Opposition BJP claimed was during the victory celebration of the TMC.
